Do you offer an emergent based curriculum that is inclusive of play? Is your curriculum open-ended and child-led where the child is an active agent in his own learning and adults act as co-constructors of knowledge? In other words are you following the child’s lead? Have you put together a Curriculum Statement that expresses your philosophy? The DES inspectors will review your curriculum and your Curriculum Statement.
A rich and stimulating Curriculum:
- is guided by the principles of Aistear and Síolta
“Encouraging each child's holistic development and learning requires the implantation of a verifiable, broad-based, documented and flexible curriculum or programme.” Reference: Síolta – the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education "Active learning, relationships, play, language, and meaningful experiences are priorities for supporting children’s early learning and development." Reference: Aistear - The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework - promotes positive interactions and has a large focus on emotional and social development
- involves parents and families
- recognises the diversity of experiences and rleationships that shape children's lives
A good curriculum will uphold the rights of the child by facilitating freedom of choice and decision making and being respectful of those choices. It will promote child-led activity and support problem solving. To support the child to make choices you need to ensure you have a rich and well-resourced environment. You also need to ensure that you have a library of idesa and plans that you can dip into to support a child’s interest. Members of the Early Years Resource Factory and clients who purchase our curriculum plans can build up a rich resource by simply adding them to their Curriculum Plan/Resource Folder and using them when required. Make sure that the ideas and plans are age-appropriate for the group of children you are working with. So the next time a child expresses an interest in a topic you can access your growing resource and respond to their individual needs.
You should also check out the NCCA for more information about putting together your curriculum statement:
NCCA Guide to Curriculum and Your Curriculum Statement
